Mental Health Archives - Page 12 of 17 - Antony Simpson is an Author, Blogger, Nurse & Witch.

The History of the National Health Service (NHS) by Me

Saturday 25 June 2016 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Many millions of people would not be alive today or lived for as long without the healthcare provided by the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom (UK). The NHS provides safe, good quality and cost effective healthcare to 64+ million men, women and children in the UK.

Driven by my curiosity, I’ve researched and written an article entitled The History of the English National Health Service (NHS), you can read it on Amazon, or if you’re a Fanatic Member, view/download it in the Fanatic Area.

Write soon,

Antony

Book Review: A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled by Ruby Wax

Sunday 19 June 2016 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 2 minutes

I was fortunate to go and see Wax perform her mental health show Sane New World. I found Wax to be inspirational, funny and informative. So I bought her book with the same title, which I found to be easily the best book I’ve ever read on the topic of mental health. Then I read Wax’s autobiography How Do You Want Me?

When I heard that Wax was releasing a new book entitled Frazzled, I immediately pre-ordered it.

A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled is split into sections, which include: an introduction to Mindfulness, Neuroscience and How Our Brains Work, a six-week Mindfulness Course, Mindfulness for Parents, Babies & Children, Mindfulness for Older Kids & Teenagers and Mindfulness & Wax.

Wax’s story sections spattered throughout Frazzled were fascinating to read. Wax’s occasional drawings and photos throughout the book were also enjoyable.

It was interesting to see the two MRI brain scans on Wax in Frazzled. One was taken before a weeklong silence mindfulness meditative retreat and one afterwards.

The format and structure of Frazzled is pleasing, although Wax could have added a section on Mindfulness for OAPs (Old Aged Pensioners). The six-week Mindfulness Course pages are grey-edged, which makes it easy for the reader to find the course. The exercises in the course did feel repetitive to read and it felt like whole sections from Week 1 had been copy/pasted into the other weeks of the course.

Frazzled shouldn’t be compared with Sane New World, but it’s difficult not to compare the two books. Frazzled is just as informative as Sane New World but not as funny. Frazzled reads like a self-help instructional book on Mindfulness.

Overall Sane New World is a good book, just not as good as Sane New World. Frazzled failed to captivate this reader throughout and failed to inspire this reader to practice mindfulness.

The only section that was not read in this book was Mindfulness for Parents, Babies and Children.

Review soon,

Antony

Support

I recognise that people visiting this page/post might want to know where they can get support.
If you require support around your mental health, addiction or physical health, see this Support page here.

Mind Map: What Makes A Good Nurse?

Thursday 28 April 2016 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 2 minutes

In my day job, I’m a Nurse. I had an experience recently that made me ask the question: What makes a Good Nurse?

I started with a mind map of my ideas (click on the Image for Full Size Image):

Despite the size of the mind map, there were loads of other qualities, talents and skills that I simply couldn’t fit on the mind map. These include:

A Sense of Humour
Patience
A Holistic Approach to care.
An understanding of and interest in Biology (Anatomy & Physiology), Sociology & Psychology.
Basic Life Support – Skills in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR).
An understanding of public health and health promotion.
An understanding of key issues: addiction, smoking cessation, mental health and obesity.
Knowledge of both hospital and community services including: what services offer, how they operate and how patient’s can access them.
Works Well in a Team.
Has Leadership Skills.
Aware of legislation relevant to patient care, safeguarding and other legislation related to their field of practice.
Has three goals: to prevent patients from getting sick/unwell, to make sick patients well again, and to keep patients as well & healthy as possible.

A Good Nurse needs to have so many qualities, talents and skills. No one person will have everyone of the qualities, talents and skills listed here. But I’ve worked with some fabulous Nurses that have come pretty close.

Nurses work in teams, which is where skill mix comes into play. Having a team of Nurses with a good mix of qualities, talents and skills means excellent patient care. This is because most, if not all of these qualities, talents and skills are met by the Nursing team as a whole.

Is there a quality, talent or skill you think a Good Nurse needs to have that isn’t on the mind map or list above? If so, please leave a comment below.

Write soon,

Antony

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A Review of Goals & New Experiences for 2015

Tuesday 29 December 2015 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Goals For Throughout The Year

Read & Review 30 books – managed to read 19 books and reviewed most of them.

Watch & Review 12 films – I only managed to review Jurassic World this year.

See a show/gig – saw Ruby Wax Live, Wheatus Live and Nina Conti.

Give up smoking for good. Didn’t happen. Will make a goal for 2016.

Write, Edit and publish a Novella. Didn’t happen due to poor mental and physical health.

Arrange & Have a Holiday. I had the adventure of a lifetime seeing two good friends get married in India (see My India Adventure Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 & Part 8).

Study Something Pagan/Druid with Chrys & Simon. Didn’t happen due to my poor health.

New Experiences for 2015 by month:

January

To start Writing again – my creative writing has stopped, started slowly, stopped and then slowly started again this year due to poor health. But right now, I am writing again.
To write a series of blog posts with a ‘Mental Health Focus,’ publishing one a week throughout the month. Done. See Mental Health Focus: 5 Brilliant TED Talks About Mental Health, Mental Health Focus: I’ve Been One of the 1 in 4, Mental Health Focus: A List of Common Conditions & Mental Health Focus: Treatment & Recovery.

February

Try Yoga. Take a Yoga class. – Ha ha, didn’t happen.

March

Visit a Museum. I visited World Museum Liverpool in November.

April

See a Sunrise. Didn’t happen. The sun rises far to early for me.
Visit a new place. A city or town that I’ve never been to. Does going to India in July count? See My India Adventure Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 & Part 8).

May

Celebrate my birthday. A night out to celebrate in style. Possibly in another city or town. Didn’t happen, instead I deliberately made no plans.
Visit a Castle or a Pagan site. Didn’t happen due to poor health.

June

Spend time Walking in Nature. Didn’t happen due to my poor health.
Take time out to celebrate Litha. Didn’t happen due to my poor health.
Watch Jurassic World at the cinema.
In addition I said adios Vodafone, after a nightmare trying to upgrade and hello to Giffgaff. I also had My First Fishing Trip.

July

Attend Mum’s events. Birthday, etc. I attended my mum and Ian’s wedding and mum’s birthday celebrations.
Watch Minions at the cinema.
In addition I enjoyed the sunshine.

August

Visit Chester Zoo’s new Islands exhibit. This was something I really wanted to do this year, I just wasn’t well enough.
In addition I had a marvellous massage.

September

Learn to Knit. Didn’t happen.
Donate to charities. I made charitable donations in November.
In addition I discovered the superb Writer Matt Haig, reading a reviewing: The Humans and Reasons to Stay Alive.

October

Celebrate Samhain. Didn’t happen.
I did have a magical evening at the British Musical Firework Championships in Southport.

November

Take some time out to relax. I took what-I-call a Life Hiatus.

December

Watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the cinema. Didn’t happen.

Overall ill health has effected my ability to achieve my goals and have new experiences this year. In 2016, I hope for better health so that more of my goals can be achieved.

Blog soon,

Antony

Mental Health

The History of the National Health Service (NHS) by Me

More Content From Antony

Book Review: A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled by Ruby Wax

Support

More Content From Antony

Mind Map: What Makes A Good Nurse?

A Review of Goals & New Experiences for 2015

Goals For Throughout The Year

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

More Content From Antony